What about all those promises that were made at our Christening?
At a recent meeting with the Rural Dean, he told Laurie and Edwin of a matter that is concerning our bishops.

When we are baptised, promises are made for us by our parents and godparents. These are that God will be our god; that we will turn from evil i.e. repentance; and that we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Master.

As we get older we need to state that we personally hold to these promises and that they were not just a part of a traditional service repeated by our parents and godparents because that is the culture. When we can honestly state that we will follow God as our god, that we repent of our sins and that we will follow Jesus as our Saviour and our Master, then we become true children of God i.e. true Christians.

Jesus says in the Bible that this commitment to God, repentance for our sins and acceptance of Jesus as our Saviour and Lord needs to be repeated in public; and for us Anglicans this is what confirmation is. It is as we make this commitment that the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and helps us to lead a life pleasing to God.

The bishops are concerned that many people who are baptised never take this step of affirming these promises for themselves, and that there are many baptised but unconfirmed adults in our churches.

They are encouraging such adults to take the step of affirming their baptismal vows in public at confirmation. This is particularly important in our secular age and at a time where the majority of practising Christians in the UK are not members of our Anglican church.

If there is anybody in our church or wider village community who is in this situation and would like to be confirmed, please could you have a word with Edwin (348718), Laurie (364251), or with one of our readers, Chris Dawe (363890) or Paul Fricker (342843). In the autumn they would plan to meet people who feel that doing this is what God wants, and arrange a confirmation perhaps in November.
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